Photograph courtesy of Our Heroes, South Dublin Libraries and David Power.

Gilbert Stewart Crawford was born on the 14 May 1868 at Ballybogy
(sometimes Ballybogey or Ballybogie), Clough, his father being Samuel
Crawford, a local farmer; his mother was Jane Stewart. The 1901 Irish
census records them there. Samuel was 74 years old, his wife Jane 68,
and their daughter Annie Jane (28) still lived with them. She had been
born at Ballybogy on the 13 April 1872. Samuel was dead by the time of
the 1911 census. Jane, now 78, lived with her daughter Annie Jane (38).
Samuel, aged 80, had died at of cardiac failure and in the presence of
his son Samuel on the 18 February 1906; son Samuel had been born at
Ballybogy on the 17 March 1864. The family tombstone in Clough Cemetery
reads:

1906

In Memory of Samuel Crawford of Ballybogie, died 18th January 1906, aged 60 years

Also of his sons Andrew who died 1st February 1876, aged 18 yearsAnd Dunlop who died 5th July 1880, aged 18 yearsAlso his wife Jane Crawford died 10th March 1922, aged 91 yearsAlso his daughter Ann Jane died 18th March 1922, aged 49 yearsAlso his son Samuel died 21st October 1953, aged 89 yearsAnd his wife Elizabeth Hall died 10th November 1933 aged 62 years

...

Gilbert Stewart, though still an integral part of the family, was no
longer at Clough as many of these events unfolded – farming was not for
him. He trained as a doctor and sought a career with the military. He
was a Surgeon-Lieutenant by the 30 January 1892, a Surgeon-Captain by
the 30 January 1895. The emergence of the Royal Army Medical Corps
allowed Captain Crawford to become Major Crawford in January 1904 and to
advance to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel on the 8 August 1914. By then
he had already had an exciting career and remarkable record of service.

British Camp in Tirah. Taken from - 17 photographs of operations during the Khyber and Tirah campaigns on the North-West Frontier of India

Crawford served on the North–West Frontier Campaign in India (1897-98)
- India, Pakistan and Bangladesh were all part of India at the time - with the Tirah Expeditionary Force, a posting which gained him a
campaign medal and two clasps. While it is not relevant here to discuss
the causes of this war or indeed the course of the fighting, it is worth
reading some material from the introduction to the ‘The Indian Frontier
War, Being an account of the Mohmund and Tirah Expeditions 1897, by
Lionel James, Reuter’s Special Correspondent, published London, William
Heinemann, 1898, a book that should have been compulsory reading for all
those who advocated intervention in Afghanistan and the tribal areas of
Pakistan in more recent times.

Lionel James in his book says,

‘the public barely
appreciate what was asked of their army when it was sent to ... Tirah.
Having been present at the Campaign, I ... should start from as fair a
standpoint as possible ... Those who have no knowledge of frontier
warfare can form but the faintest conception of the adverse conditions
under which the campaign took place ...’

Referring
to the task allotted to the British commander he said,

‘He was given a
conjectural map of the theatre of war, and was led to understand that no
small part of his duty was a fairly accurate survey of the unknown
country. He had ... as fine a body of fighting men as could be found
..., but with this army he had to carry a larger army of non-combatants
and followers, and a multitude of transport animals ... no fewer than
43,810 transport animals.... This was ... in addition to the transport
of the Peshawar and Kurram columns ... it had to be protected, and
pushed and driven through perhaps the most difficult country in the
world! General Lockhart was called upon to take this undisciplined
multitude across mountains where there was not even a vestige of a
goat-track; along river-beds strewn with boulders, where the only path
was knee-deep in icy water; through gorges where two animals abreast
closed the up gradients which in their initial stages defeated (and this
is a hard saying) even mountain battery mules; down descents which were
almost precipices; through barren places where food there was none; and
into extremes of climate which destroyed the weaklings and consequently
increased the loads of the more robust. Even had there been no
opposition, the passage through such a country of an army so handicapped
would have been a great feat.

But there was bitter
opposition ... The Pathan, while still possessing the natural
advantages of country and physical hardihood, is further armed with
weapons as precise and deadly as our own ... He is as active as a ...
mountain goat; he can carry a week's rations on his back ... he is
clever and crafty, and is fighting in his own country, where every hill
path and position for ambuscade is known to him. [They] reserve their
fighting strength for the system of guerrilla warfare ... in which all
the disadvantages lie with the invader. ... Those who have never been
under a continuous fire do not realise how constant rear-guard actions
tell upon the soldier; how weary and dispirited he gets. ... And it has
been a campaign of rearguards. I would have my readers realise ... how
rear-guard accidents may occur at the close of a short winter day, when
baggage has to be driven and carried for miles down the bed of a
mountain torrent.’

The medical staff like Crawford worked in terrible conditions in this wilderness, yet they did well.

‘Few
people, probably, outside the Department (i.e. Army Medical Services),
have any conception of the strain and responsibility devolved on the
Medical Services ... Twenty-three field hospitals altogether were
mobilised. ... Each of these could accommodate 100 sick men, and was
fully equipped with supplies and comforts for three months. In addition,
base hospitals were formed at Rawalpindi, Nowshera, and Kohat, in which
beds were provided for upwards of 3000 men. These figures will give
some idea of the scale of the organisation. But the wild, roadless
country in which the operations were conducted enormously increased the
difficulties ... in making arrangements for the care and treatment and
transport of the wounded and sick. From Bagh in Tirah to the advanced
base at Shinauri is about thirty-five miles by a track traversable only
by mules and ponies, or on foot. For these thirty-five miles those who
were too ill or too weak to ride, and there were hundreds such, had to
be carried in doolies (palanquins) and stretchers, and strongly escorted
all the way, for the road throughout was in hostile territory, except
the last few miles. From Shinauri wheeled ambulances were available for
seventy-five miles, until the railway was reached at Khusalgarh, whence
it was a run of eighty miles to Rawalpindi. It may easily be believed
that the work of carrying the wounded, and transporting them to the base
hospitals, was a very real difficulty.

There were no Chinooks! The
condition of the wounded men must have been made worse by such a
journey, their wounds made harder to treat.

Medical Aid. Taken from - 17 photographs of operations during the Khyber and Tirah campaigns on the North-West Frontier of India

Crawford and his colleagues had the quality of their work noted by those
in authority.
Surgeon-Major-General G. Thomson, C.B., I. M.S., Principal Medical
Officer in the field, was thanked, the OC wanting ‘to express my
indebtedness to him, and to the other officers of the department of
which he has been in charge, for the high state of efficiency in which
it has been maintained, often under very unfavourable conditions.’

(The Campaign in the Tirah, 1897-1898: An Account of the Expedition
against the Orakzais and Afridis under General Sir William Lockhart,
GCB, KCSI, by Colonel H D Hutchinson, page 245-246).

The
P.M.O. (Principal Medical Officer) spoke highly of his Secretary,
Surgeon-Major W. A. Morris, A.M.S. to the Commander-in-Chief in India,
for in submitting Despatches to the Government of India, he wrote:

‘The
extent of these demands may be best realised from the statement that it
was considered necessary to provide hospital accommodation for 12 per
cent of troops and followers. ... The results obtained in the treatment
of the sick, and especially in surgical cases of wounds, have been most
satisfactory.’

The
South African War, 1900-1902, gave Crawford’s next opportunity to
practice his medicine and gain experience. He was present at the Relief
of Ladysmith, the Battle of Spion Kop, the actions at Vaal Kranz of the
5-7 February 1900, Tugela Heights from the 14-27 February 1900 and the
action at Pieter’s [Peter’s] Hill. He was involved in operations in
Natal, March –June 1900, including the action at Laing’s Nek on the 6-9
June. He participated in operation in the Transvaal in 1901. He acquired
a Queen’s Medal and 4 clasps and a King’s Medal (Queen Victoria died in
1901) and 3 clasps.

Where General Butler successfully crossed the Tugela River

Photograph
from Album of photographs of Boer War battlefields: Wellcome Library.
Used under Creative Commons, Attribution, Non-commercial license terms.

About
22,000 soldiers were treated for battle wounds. During the early phase
of the war, most medical recovery teams, suitably identified, would
enter the battlefield and to recover wounded men, but the Boers
allegedly took advantage and squads were formed to fire on them, a procedure that
killed soldiers and paramedics. This meant recovery was thereafter
conducted after dusk, and this made medical care not just more difficult but
also less effective.

Despite that, however, the
surgical care provision was vastly more effective than in previous
wars. There were twenty-eight field ambulances, five stationary
hospitals and 16 general hospitals established to deal with casualties
and numerous voluntary organizations developed additional medical
facilities. Special units of Natal Indian South Africans served in the
recovery effort by transporting the wounded from battlefields.

Based
loosely on Lee, Emanoel (1985), "To the Bitter End: A Photographic
History of the Boer War 1899–1902", London: Penguin Books, Viking
Penguin Incorporated.

Where the British climbed Spion Kop.

They were to lose 1,750 men killed and wounded before the action ended.

Photograph from Album
of photographs of Boer War battlefields: Wellcome Library. Used under
Creative Commons, Attribution, Non-commercial license terms.

The
Boer War created an opportunity for Crawford and other medics to
promote a number of medical advancements. It was the first conflict to
use waterproofed sterile gauze pads and safety pins. High power bullet
wounds damaged bones and they developed splints made from canvas and
made rigid by bamboo strips. These they covered by Plaster of Paris to
create casts. X-rays were also utilized widely for the first time,
though some x-ray machines were used earlier, e.g. at the time if the
Tirah Expedition.

The RAMC, formed in 1898, achieved
much during the Boer war, and in his despatch of 2nd April 1901 Lord
Roberts said:

"Under Surgeon General Wilson this department has laboured
indefatigably both in the field and in the hospitals. ...There are many
instances, indeed, recorded of great gallantry having been displayed by
the officers in carrying on their work of mercy under heavy fire, and
in the face of exceptional difficulties their duty has been ably
performed.”

Crawford was to take his experience of India and South Africa to the
Great War, but also other experiences that resulted from his sojourn in
the Mediterranean. He became Major Crawford, Royal Army Medical Corps,
on the 30 Jan 1904 and arrived in Malta in February 1906. He was in
charge Mtarfa Military Hospital in July 1906 and he introduced measures
to lower the mortality from infantile enteritis. He assisted with
sanitary matters in Malta after Sept 1907, and was appointed Sanitary
Officer for Valletta in 1908. He returned to England on leave in June
1908 but after the 28 Dec 1908 he found himself in charge of a medical
party sent to Sicily following the earthquake at Catona.

The
1908 earthquake was the first ‘national’ catastrophe Italy had to face
since recent unification. Both Messina and Reggio Calabria were almost
completely razed by the earthquake beneath the Messina Strait. It
occurred on the 28 December 1908 at exactly 5:21 am while everyone was
sleeping, and lasted a mere 30-40 seconds. It measured about 7.1-7.5 on
the Richter scale. Ten minutes after the catastrophic earthquake those
who tried to escape by running towards the open spaces of the coast were
engulfed by a 40 foot high tsunami that swept away the whole seafront.
It is estimated that 25,000 people perished in Reggio Calabria and
65,000 in Messina. Reggio lost 27% of its inhabitants; Messina lost
42%. The violence of the earthquake meant it was felt in Malta too. The
Daily Malta Chronicle reported that, "The seismograph at the university
(of Malta) was thrown out of gear by the violence of its (the
earthquake's) own action."

They were very welcome, as stated in the book From the lips of Survivors, page 53:

"We
were cut off from the world. All the wires were down. We could not see
the lights of Reggio, which told of destruction. All things seemed to be
returning to savagery. Early Tuesday morning we saw some silent gray
monsters tearing up the Straits, and we could soon distinguish the white
ensign. The British fleet had come. It brought the first help from the
outside world. It brought surgeons, medical appliances, food and
clothing. As soon as the sailors landed they began to restore order."

The
work the unit did there was much appreciated, though they were only one of the major relief teams that sped to the area. Crawford and the many
others of the British team returned to Malta in 1909 and he was to remain there as Sanitary
Officer Valletta until March 1911. On the 29 Oct 1909, he was appointed
Commander of the Crown of Italy, a reward for his services in Calabria
during the earthquake crisis; he also received the Silver Medal and
Diploma of the Italian Red Cross. This was bestowed upon him by the
Governor and Commander in Chief at the Palace Valletta.

Crawford's Italian Award was noted in the British Medical Journal, 1 January 1910

He became a Lieutenant Colonel on the eve of the Great War and he was in
command of the 14th Field Ambulance from mobilisation until August
1915, and was through some of the heaviest fighting on the western
front, frequently carrying out his work under heavy shellfire. Details
of his character and work are hard to obtain but some insight can be
gleaned from With the French in France and Flanders, Being the
Experiences of a Chaplain attached to a Field Ambulance, by Owen Spencer
Watkins, Chaplain to the Forces.

Watkins
was, according to his book, with the 14th Field Ambulance during the
Retreat from Mons, at Le Cateau, the Battle of the Marne, the Battle of
the Aisne, with them when they retired from Aisne to Northern France and
with them at the holding of the Bethune-Arras-La Bassee Line, during
the blocking of the road to Calais and at the First Battle of Ypres and
Armentieres.

Watkins was a Methodist minister and
was delighted to find that ‘The Officer Commanding the Field Ambulance
was ... Lieutenant-Colonel G S Crawford, a member a family which ...
has rendered such fine service to Irish Methodism, and whose sympathies
were, I speedily discovered, with me in the work that I was sent to do.
(Page 12)’.

Referring to one action, though with
words he would have applied to any he saw, he noted Crawford’s dedicated behaviour and efficiency:

'Field Ambulance has had many homes
—Richebourg-l'Avoue, Le Hamel, Le Touret, La Couture, Vieille Chapelle,
Lestrem, Estaires, Les Lobes, Rue Delannoy, Les Facons, and La Belle
Croix. In some of them we have made comparatively long stays, in others
we did not even complete one night, for we were shelled out by an
inconsiderate enemy. But, whether our stay was long or short, Colonel
Crawford and his officers have made their arrangements for the receiving
of sick and wounded ; the operating-room has been ready, and, under the
most trying conditions, excellent work has been done.'Page 128

He
knew Crawford was always personally willing to take risk and to do
whatever was needed. He admired his spirit and recorded on one occasion
that ‘... the 14th was just coming into action. Leaving the ambulance at
Les Facons, I accompanied Colonel Crawford, who was riding on ahead, to
select a suitable place in which to establish a dressing-station’. p
104

He knew from firsthand experience how hard 14
Field Ambulance toiled and how well organised they were. He said, ‘I
never saw better arrangements, or, indeed, arrangements half as good, as
those which Colonel Crawford and his officers made at Jury. Many an
officer and man, during this and the following days, who owe their lives
to the surgical skill of Captain Lindsay and Lieutenants Tasker and
Clark, could not possibly have been saved but for the careful
preparation beforehand, and the almost ideal operating theatre into
which the room in that little farmhouse had been converted.'p78-79

He
noted too that ‘Colonel Crawford and his officers, also, are not men
content only to do their official work; they have acquired a
considerable civil practice, not one that produces any monetary reward,
but one that is rich in the gratitude of those in sore need--refugees
from Belgium and the ruined villages of Northern France, and the
impoverished peasantry of the particular district in which at present we
are operating. The names of Lieutenants Row, Barry, Hay, Chesney, and
Clarke will long be remembered with gratitude by those who have
benefited by their surgical and medical skill.’p183-184

The
risks the 14th Field Ambulance took saved lived but took a toll of
their own men. The Reverend Watkins at the end of his book about the
early fighting in France said, ‘There are now only three left of the
twelve officers who sailed from Dublin with the Ambulance last August —
i.e. Colonel G. S. Crawford, Lieutenant T Grenfell, and myself. The toll
has been heavy, but the achievement great. I shall always be proud that
I have been numbered amongst that gallant band of brave and devoted
men'. P 192

Major Francis Graham Richard had been killed, Chaplain D P
Winnifrith was invalided, Captain Bell and Lieutenants Martin-Row and
Clarke were wounded, as indeed was the Reverend Watkins, but Crawford,
as a favour to a friend, let him recover with the unit in France.

Crawford later commanded the 18th Stationary Hospital, Mediterranean
Expeditionary Force for a time. No 18 Stationary Hospital opened at West
Mudros on Lemnos in August 1915 with 624 beds and it later expanded to
1,340 beds.

The Greek island of Lemnos, situated in the
northern Aegean Sea at about 50 miles from Turkey and the Dardanelles,
and it was used as a staging post for the assembly of troops and ships
to be used in the Gallipoli campaign. More importantly for our current
study is its role as a place where the wounded of Gallipoli were treated
by people including Crawford. Given the nature of the harsh terrain and
the narrow strip of land that the Allied troops held on the Dardanelles
peninsula, treating and caring for the wounded close to the front was
not possible and hence the men had to be evacuated on flat-bottom boats
and then transferred to hospital ships waiting offshore for
transportation to hospitals in Egypt and Malta. Even that was difficult,
as Sir Ian Hamilton's noted in his despatch of May 1915.

He said, 'The
Royal Army Medical Services have had to face unusual and very trying
conditions. There are no roads, and the wounded who are unable to walk
must be carried from the firing line to the shore. They, and their
attendants, may be shelled on their way to the beaches, at the beaches,
on the jetties, and again on their way out in lighters to the hospital
ships. I can only express my own opinion that efficiency, method, and
even a certain quiet heroism have characterised the evacuation of the
many thousands of our wounded.’

The close proximity of
Lemnos was attractive, but the island lacked suitable medical
facilities, so was intended initially to deal with the slightly wounded,
i.e. those likely to be well within twenty-eight days. But the sheer
numbers of wounded from the early August offensive and the flood of sick
that followed in late August, September and October necessitated its
development as an intermediate military medical base. Crawford was one
of those who did that work and, though details of his personal role are
unavailable, we know he was instrumental in the transition. The hospital
moved to Egypt in January 1916, and he probably went with them.

The rest of his career in the Great War is not known to us at this time
and he may have retired before the war’s end. He was mentioned in
despatches, by Field-Marshal Viscount French, and on the basis of his
excellent service he was appointed a Companion of the Order of St.
Michael and St. George. His name was removed from the Reserve of Officers in May 1923.

The End of the Road for an Old Warhorse

He inspired his nephews, the sons of his brother
Robert of Ashville, Galgorm Road, Ballymena, to enlist. Cadet Robert
(Rollie) Crawford joined the Royal Irish Rifles via a commission in the
18th Battalion of the Royal Irish Rifles. 2nd Lt. Rollie Crawford was educated
at the Model School Ballymena Academy, Foyle College and Trinity
College, Dublin where he was studying for the ministry. In the early
spring of 1915 he had joined the Royal Irish Rifles as a private and later became
attached to the cadet corps, from which he gained his commission. He
went to the front during the first week of February 1915.

His
brother, 2nd Lt. Jack Crawford, Royal Irish Rifles, was wounded in the
Ulster Division's Somme advance in July 1916. The Ballymena Observer said, ‘We understand
that he is in hospital in France and is progressing favourably from his
wounds which he states himself are only slight. Mr. Crawford who is just
21 years of age, was with the YCVs (Young Citizens Volunteers).’ Both
brothers survived the war.

Lieutenant Colonel Gilbert
Stewart Crawford, MD, CMG died on the 2 November 1953 at Exmouth, Devon. He
had been an outstanding medic and organiser, a man who made a great
difference to the lives of others, military and civilian. Sadly he is
scarcely remembered in his own home locality.

Some References

The Indian Frontier
War, Being an account of the Mohmund and Tirah Expeditions 1897, by
Lionel James, Reuter’s Special Correspondent, published London, William
Heinemann, 1898

The Campaign in the Tirah, 1897-1898: An Account of the Expedition against the Orakzais and Afridis under General Sir William Lockhart, GCB, KCSI, based (by permission) on Letters Contributed to 'The Times' by Colonel H D Huchinson, Director of Military Education in India, published Macmillan & Co, Limited, New York, 1898

See: The British Empire: Tirah Expeditionhttps://www.britishempire.co.uk/forces/armycampaigns/indiancampaigns/tirah.htm

The
1897 Revolt and Tirah Valley Operations from the Pashtun Perspective"
by Robert A Johnson November 2009 Tribal Analysis Center

Photographs of the Campaign - http://www.bonhams.com/auctions/19952/lot/304/

With the French in France and Flanders, Being the
Experiences of a Chaplain attached to a Field Ambulance, by Owen Spencer
Watkins, Chaplain to the Forces, published London 1915 by Charles H
Kelly, 25-35 City Road, and 26 Paternoster Row, E.C.

The Great War and the RAMC by Bt. Lt. Col F S Brerton, RAMC, Constable and Company Ltd, London, 1919